Alyssa Rosenberg got it right last night:
People apparently want to know if I have thoughts on M.I.A. flipping the bird at the end of her verse. So here they are: I think it’s exactly the kind of bland, predictable, wannabe-controversial-but-utterly-predictable-and-meaning-free thing she would do, and as such, essentially unworthy of notice or comment.
She expounded on this point today, but not before the pro-censorship Parents Television Council fired off a press release:
“NBC fumbled and the NFL lied because a performer known as M.I.A. felt it necessary to flip off millions of families. It is unfortunate that a spectacular sporting event was overshadowed once again by broadcasting the selfish acts of a desperate performer. […]
“A simple apology rings hollow after yet another slap in the face to families, especially when NBC has argued before the U.S. Supreme Court that it should be allowed to air all manner of indecent material at any time of day, even when children are watching.
The point here is not that the PTC is overreacting–their entire job is to overreact. It’s nothing new. The takeaway moment here is that they actively support the federal government censoring broadcast television.
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Many people do not know that the government only still censors the major broadcast networks – CBS, NBC, Fox, etc. The cable networks – MTV, History Channel, CNN, Fox News etc.– may “bleep out” obscenities or blur nudity, but this is merely an act of self-censorship. However, very few channels that are not subject to government censorship – with the exceptions of HBO, Showtime, Playboy TV, etc. – are truly uncensored.
In reality, there is no need to involve the government in television censorship. Yes, NBC could theoretically “air all manner of indecent material at any time of day, even when children are watching,” but why would they? It would likely spawn outrage, protest, and a decline in advertising revenue. It would hurt them more than it would help them.
It’s interesting that conservatives are all in favor of the free market, except when it comes to their brand of social conservatism. Poor workers dying due to unsafe health conditions? Don’t care, free market! A child hearing an expletive on daytime television? Call the national guard!
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I am not quite sure how this pending court case will go. Last year, the Supreme Court ruled that the government could not restrict the sale of video games to a minor. However, that case was merely limited to violence and not sexuality:
“Because speech about violence is not obscene, it is of no consequence that California’s statute mimics the New York statute regulating obscenity-for-minors that we upheld in Ginsberg v. New York. That case approved a prohibition on the sale to minors of sexual material that would be obscene from the perspective of a child.”
Because striking down government censorship may allow swearing or sexuality, the court may easily go in the opposite direction. I sincerely hope that it doesn’t, but anything is possible.
